Tip #6

I’m a big fan of fan brushes!

These great brushes work for all kinds of uses --
hair, fur, falling rain, grasses, wood textures, you
name it! They’re also terrific for blending oils or acrylics
smoothly.

Art #6-1, right, and

Table for Five, below

I almost never use fan brushes as they

come from the store. Instead, I give them
a pixie cut with a small scissors or nail
clippers, so you get some uneven lengths
as shown at right. I can use the whole
brush, the edge, or one side or the other
for any number of great linear effects.

The softer-haired fans work best for

blending smoothly, as you see on the
horse, below. In this case, the small, soft
fan brush was left as it was purchased,
with no “barbering.” (This is a detail from
an acrylic painting, “Table for Five,” in
my upcoming North Light book, Painting
and Drawing Animals due out in 2005.)

Table for Five”

 Art #6-2
You can use them with
watercolor, acrylics, oils,
alkyds -- they’re a very
versatile brush. In this detail
from the same painting as
the horse, above, you can see
rough grasses in an acrylic
painting -- mostly applied
with the side of the brush and
the edge.

Art #6-3
Suggest wood texture
as well, as in this old
watering trough -- I
think this is from my
very first North Light
book, Painting Nature’s
Details in Watercolor!
(http://www.amazon.com/
exec/obidos/tg/detail/-
/0891341854/qid=
1097003801/sr=8-1/ref
=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/
103-74305892043869?v=
glance&s=books&n=
507846)

Art #6-4
It’s a snap to make
fur textures or
woven fabrics with
a fan brush, as you
can see in this
painting of my
darling Scoutie --
this will be in the
new book, too!

Look for more

ideas on using
a fan brush in
my Creating
Textures in
Watercolor (http://
www.amazon.com/exec/
obidos/tg/detail/-/
0891344179/002-
7020527-
6491246?v=glance),
from North
Light.
© Copyright Cathy Johnson, Graphic/Fine Arts,
All Rights Reserved
Website: http://www.cathyjohnson.info
Email: graphicart@epsi.net